The mop industry produces a number of different but related products, among them wet mops, dry or dust mops, hand dusters, and carpet and floor machine buffer pads. All have the predominant characteristic of being composed of a plurality of yarns sewn together in some manner to produce the desired shape for the desired job. Except in the case of wet mops, the yarns are generally sewn to a backing, the form of the backing generally characterizing that article for its intended use.
Some procedures use tufting and in other forms of manufacture, a continuous length of pre-sewn fringe is applied to the backing or in the case of a wet mop, a wide length of pre-sewn fringe is utilized and head bands, tail bands and the like applied as desired. The mops may be made with looped or cut ends as desired by the purchaser. Looped end mops, whether they be wet mops or dust mops, are often desired to prevent excessive linting and pulling apart of the fibers during use. This is a particular problem when less expensive yarns are used, such as those yarns formed of particularly coarse and short staple cotton. The looped end mops are sometimes said to provide superior cleaning abrasion which it is alleged, cut end mops do not. Conversely, advocates of the cut end mops assert the cut end yarns have superior water absorbent qualities through the capillary or wicking action of the cut ends. However, users of the cut end mops have often had a significant problem with linting.
Manufacturers have heretofore experimented with a variety of materials for forming the yarns. Generally, there is a tendency to use low-cost, coarse, short staple cotton fibers but such fibers excessively lint, are slow to dry when washed, and do not maintain integrity long when used. Other manufacturers have tried synthetic fibers but synthetic fibers are significantly more expensive than cotton and usually have little water absorbency for use as wet mops. Dry mops are often treated with an oil to promote pick-up and retention, the synthetic fibers do not hold the oil and the dry mops do not perform well either. Attempts have been made to produce mops using strands of artificial chamois material but such mops are expensive.
Mops are generally used many times during their useful life and are washed and dried between uses. Drying is a particular problem because pure cotton yarns tend to mat when wet; this forms an impervious top layer which prevents heated air from contacting the full lengths of the yarns and a longer time in the dryer must be spent, ultimately increasing the cost of use.
Other products of the mop industry sometimes include entrance and work area mats which are made with various constructions of yarn and fibers. These too are washed frequently and must maintain integrity for repeated use.
In order to overcome the deficiencies of the related mop constructions, the present invention is directed to a particular mop yarn and a process and exemplary machinery for making such yarn and using such yarn to make a mop. The yarn is composed of a combination of staple length fibers of cotton or other absorbent material and a synthetic material which melts at temperatures generally below the burning or charring temperature of the cotton or other absorbent yarn. The fibers are placed in mutual surface engagement, heated and passed over a die which urges the absorbent fibers into the melted surface of the synthetic fibers. Upon cooling, a mechanical bond is created to maintain structural integrity of the yarn and durability and resistance to abrasion. Fluid absorbency of the yarn is substantially unaffected. Preferably, the yarn processing line is part of the production line for mops and is merely a step in the production process. The resultant yarn has excellant suitability for the purpose, may be predyed, and is substantially colorfast for dying or color coding after formation and pursuant to the customer's request.